My neighbor is a member of a dinner club. Several of the members decided they wanted to climb Half Dome. Tim played the lottery, won the 6 permits and reserved a camp in Upper Pines only to have all of the “wanna climbs” bail out on him.
So Tim went to 5 people he knew had back country experience and could endure the climb and invited them to join him on a day hike to the top.
We got an early start. The weather was perfect. The park officials really need to do something about these over grown fury rats.
We ran into a lot of these vermin.
The mist wasn’t too bad below Vernal falls.
This is in comparison to last year in late June when walking Mist Trail was like taking an extended freezing cold shower.
- Sorry about not rotating the picture
If you look carefully, you can see the ant trail of people climbing to the summit.
Here is a closer look at the traffic jam.
We eventually made the summit and I joined Tim for the obligatory “diving board” photo.
And the group photo at the top
If you can’t tell, I am the good looking one in this picture.
Again, there was a traffic jam on the way down the cables.
As always there were some real Yahoos up there.
We stopped to do a little fishing in the Merced.
After thinking about how we were all replacements we decided to call ourselves the “B” Team. If you ever want to summit Half Dome don’t plan to go with a bunch of “wanna climbs”. Be sure to hand pick the best and most capable of your friends.
We all had a great time and had the chance to meet a bunch of really great guys.
-Russ
"...Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host and then a master?"
Kahil Gibran.
